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Place dossier plate
SheetKS-WAVERLY-KS · Waverly, KS 528 pop · income 34th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Waverly
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waverly on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Haven · lowest
33,977
New Haven · lowest
33,977 median HH income
26.1% of the leader · rank #1
Waverly · this city
58,958
Waverly · this city
58,958 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #2
Salamonia · near
58,958
Salamonia · near
58,958 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #3
Augusta · near
58,958
Augusta · near
58,958 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #4
Liverpool · near
58,958
Liverpool · near
58,958 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #5
Castlewood · near
58,958
Castlewood · near
58,958 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #6
Parkerfield · highest
130,417
Parkerfield · highest
130,417 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Waverly on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 528.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Waverly lands in the 34th percentile for household income and the 99th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
34th
percentile, household income
5th
percentile, home value
6th
percentile, median rent
99th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Waverly, KS
Waverly is a small town in Kansas, home to 528 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $58,958 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.0%. Home values in Waverly run a median of $85,000, and the median resident age is 43.2 years. Educational attainment runs 13.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier. Waverly reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 0.0 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Living costs in Kansas run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Kansas at 90.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Below Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $947 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Kansas's average monthly utility costs around $217 (state average). On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 29.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Waverly's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waverly, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Waverly?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 13.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
How far does income reach against housing in Waverly?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Waverly?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Kansas, the closest population matches are Attica (529 residents, $42,708 income); Glen Elder (520 residents, $73,542 income); Florence (537 residents, $40,125 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fruithurst, AL (528 residents); Courtland, CA (528 residents); Paukaa, HI (528 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Waverly?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 0.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 100% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
0.0
Violent rate
0.0
Property rate
0.0
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Waverly?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 78.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
78.9%
Work from home
7.9%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 227 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 14.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
90.1 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Kansas average
C-
City profile score · Waverly, KS
52/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Violent crime A+
0 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living A
90.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$58,958
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
13.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Waverly profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 97/100 (A+) · 0 /100k
Cost of living: 85/100 (A) · 90.1 index
Household income: 33/100 (F) · $58,958
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 16/100 (F) · 13.5%
How does Waverly compare to other US cities?
Here's how Waverly stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income34% higher than other cities
Home value5% pricier than other cities
Median rent6% pricier than other cities
Safety99% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Kansas alone, Waverly ranks #2 of 109 Kansas cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Waverly against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Kansas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Kansas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Waverly near the bottom of Kansas's cities
Among the 552 Kansas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waverly ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waverly only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#276 of 527
47th percentile in Kansas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 552
0th percentile in Kansas
Median Home Value
#315 of 527
40th percentile in Kansas
Poverty Rate
#114 of 552
79th percentile in Kansas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#413 of 552
24th percentile in Kansas
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Kansas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
34th percentile nationally for median household income · 99th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Waverly's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Waverly's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Waverly's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$85,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 95% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Waverly's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#318 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#313 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.4×, Waverly sits in the affordable band:
national rank #318 of 15,516 and #313 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$58,958Waverly, KS median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waverly, KS median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Waverly, KS.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)13.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
528
Median Income
$58,958
Median Home Value
$85,000
Median Age
43.2
Poverty Rate
14.0%
Labor force participation
50.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
13.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Waverly's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
578 residents
2021
577 residents
2022
570 residents
2023
569 residents
2024
572 residents
2025
577 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.2M
2020
2
2
0
$0.5M
2021
1
1
0
$0.1M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
2
2
0
$0.7M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
78.9%
Carpool
13.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
7.9%
Based on 227 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Kansas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $217
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Kansas at $217 (electricity about $110 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Kansas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Waverly. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Kansas's BEA cost-of-living index is 90.1 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Waverly is $947/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Kansas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 29.9 / 100 (Very Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Kansas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Waverly sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waverly compares to similar-size Kansas cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.